Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive – CH57

Chapter 57

The survivors in the underground passage visibly relaxed when they heard that some of the people taken away were also people they knew.

Whether those people chose to rescue them or not, they probably would not hurt Uncle Zhong…

Uncle Zhong said, “You have guns and crossbows, and we have people. If we work together to save them, our chances will be much better.”

Yi Qi and Shen Zheng said nothing. They still held their guns to Uncle Zhong’s head, waiting for Wei Cheng to make the final decision.

Guanguan lowered his head and clasped his little hands together.

He missed Xiaotiao, Mingming, Teacher Xiaomei, and Grandpa Director very much, but Baby also knew that seeing them again would be very hard.

They had been captured by lots of bad people!

He also did not want bad people to beat up his brother and uncles!

Wei Cheng remained unmoved and only said, “Either change our vehicle or change the tires. We’re taking this construction material and cement with us.”

Hearing that, Uncle Zhong thought to himself that this boy truly did not want to save those two orphans.

They were not blood relatives. Who would risk their life for someone unrelated by blood?

Uncle Zhong waved to the others. “Dafeng, Xiao Ma, you know this stuff. Change their tires.”

The two men gritted their teeth. “Yes, Uncle Zhong!”

They quickly found the truck’s spare tire under the chassis, and soon enough also found the tools that came with the vehicle.

They stood in the freezing wind for almost an hour before Dafeng finally shouted, “It’s done!”

Wei Cheng looked at Shen Zheng. Shen Zheng understood and, holding up his gun, hurried over to inspect the left and right tires. Only then did he say, “No problem.”

Wei Cheng was the first to climb into the truck with Guanguan in his arms. Shen Zheng nimbly jumped into the driver’s seat and called out, “Yi Qi, get up here!”

Yi Qi snatched the gun from Uncle Zhong’s hand and tossed it through the window to Wei Cheng. “You all get in first!”

Then, pointing the gun at the restless group, he barked, “If my gun goes off, your boss dies!”

Dafeng and Xiao Ma did not dare move again. They could only watch as Yi Qi took Uncle Zhong hostage and jumped into the cab.

The door slammed shut, and Uncle Zhong was shoved back out by a powerful force.

“Uncle Zhong!”

By the time they reacted, the large truck was already speeding away. Not far behind, scattered on the ground, were the broken parts of Uncle Zhong’s black handgun.

Dafeng picked up the pieces and the bullets and cursed, “That kid was way too strange.”

Being scheming was one thing, but in such a short time, he had disassembled the gun into so many pieces.

Uncle Zhong was silent for a moment. “We’re the ones who provoked them first. Let’s go back and see whether Xiaojun’s feeling any better.”

When they returned to the underground passage, a whole crowd gathered around them.

“Third Uncle, where’s the chubby kid?”

“Uncle Zhong, where are those people?”

Dafeng recounted what had happened. “They ran!”

Uncle Zhong suddenly asked, “Why don’t I hear Xiaojun coughing?”

Xiaojun’s mother’s eyes were red, but she was smiling through tears. “He took the fever medicine, and he’s much better. He finally fell asleep.”

Uncle Zhong smiled. “That’s good. As long as the child is okay.”

The women and the elderly rested while more than ten men sat around the two crossbows and two bundles of arrows in silence.

—

The large truck sped away from the city center, and as expected, once they left that area, there were more zombies. Fortunately, the truck’s chassis was high, and any zombies that wandered too close were crushed into rotten pulp beneath the tires.

The city buildings faded into the distance, and the highway was lined on both sides by endless forest.

“Stop the truck,” Wei Cheng said.

Shen Zheng braked.

Everyone got out.

Wei Cheng handed the sleeping Guanguan to Shen Zheng and had Yi Qi open the cargo compartment. He dumped all the construction materials and cement inside into the safe house in one go.

The two uncles had spent a lot of effort loading those things in. Of course they had to take them with them.

The three of them carried the child and darted into the woods.

The area was completely safe. Only then did Wei Cheng bring out the tank-like little car and activate several defensive functions.

The temperature inside the car gradually rose, and their frozen bodies slowly warmed up.

Shen Zheng touched Guanguan’s soft little hand and only relaxed after finding it warm. “Are we rescuing the children from the orphanage, along with the director and teacher?”

Yi Qi nodded. “I don’t know the people you’re talking about, but I know Guanguan. Anyone this child keeps in his heart probably isn’t a bad person. If you want to save them, then we save them!”

Wei Cheng looked at Guanguan’s sleeping little face and said softly, “Guanguan’s world is very small. I want the people he treasures to stay alive.”

Yi Qi and Shen Zheng both felt their hearts go soft.

So they had already become people Guanguan cherished long ago.

After a moment of silence, Wei Cheng said, “If we didn’t know where Mingming and Xiaotiao were, that would be one thing. But now that we do know, we can’t just stand by. I know exactly what those people want captives for. Once they take them back to their base in Wuzhou City, their fate will be horrific.”

“You… why do you know that so clearly?” Yi Qi asked tentatively.

Then, seeing Wei Cheng glance over, he smiled. “A secret?”

Shen Zheng suddenly realized something. “That’s right, Chengcheng. How do you know what the people from Watcher Community do with the people they capture?”

Wei Cheng kept a straight face and tapped his head. “I imagined it.”

Yi Qi said nothing, but Shen Zheng sighed. “They grab old people, women, men, and children. I don’t even dare imagine what kind of inhuman things they do.”

He hesitated, then asked, “We’ve fought with people from Watcher Community before. They’re well equipped and ruthless. Why didn’t we let the survivors in the underground passage come with us to save people?”

Yi Qi shook his head. “Uncle Zhong looks like a good man, but the adult men around him all look different in their own ways. I can’t trust them.”

“We’ve already exposed the fact that we have crossbows, medicine, guns, plenty of supplies, and a base under construction,” Wei Cheng said calmly. “If the people living in that pitch-black underground passage were us, and if the child burning with fever and starving like a worm was Guanguan, then tell me—wouldn’t I be tempted? If the other party seemed kindhearted, wouldn’t I take advantage of that kindness and ask for more?”

When life and death were at stake, who cared about moral education?

Shen Zheng was shaken. Forget Chengcheng—even he felt that he probably would have done the same!

Chengcheng loved Guanguan, and they loved Guanguan too. In the same way, those people loved their own families. For the sake of keeping their loved ones alive, what could they not do?

Even if it meant betraying their conscience.

“Most importantly, I could never truly cooperate with them.” Wei Cheng took a gun case from the safe house and loaded it skillfully and quickly, lowering his head as he said, “I can’t trust someone who once pointed a gun at my head, no matter the reason. That’s my principle.”

Yi Qi really had to admire how calm and clear-headed Wei Cheng was at such a young age. “That’s true. Those people are too chaotic and too mixed. Because Uncle Zhong saved them, they’re fiercely loyal to him and follow his lead. I still say this: Uncle Zhong is a good person. The rest are hard to judge. A team can’t have two leaders, especially when we’re still so few. If disagreements happen during the rescue—or even after the rescue—it’s not impossible they’d turn on us.”

Then he asked, “So what do we do next?”

“Get some proper rest in the car for two hours. At five in the morning, we move in and rescue them.” Wei Cheng handed them each a gun case. “One case each. I’ll put Guanguan back in the safe house first. Get as much sleep as you can.”

Both men opened the cases and exclaimed in unison, “Damn.”

Hearing that, Wei Cheng thought to himself: those two rifles cost a full 1,000 coins!

Originally he had only stockpiled three rifles, but considering the two uncles’ safety and the battle advantage adults had, he had equipped each of them with two rifles and two pistols.

Then, since this would be a fierce fight, he bought a 2,000-coin silent sniper rifle.

That was the only type of sniper rifle available in the safe house now.

A regular sniper rifle cost only 1,000 coins. This one was expensive because its barrel was longer, it could fire silently within a 300-meter radius, and most importantly, it had reduced recoil—something extremely important for the still-young Wei Cheng.

Of course, the special subsonic bullets it used were several times more expensive than normal ammunition.

One trip out had cost them 4,200 coins. As long as they could bring the people back alive, it would be worth it.

—

At five-thirty in the morning, at Joy Villas Hotel—

This was not a luxury hotel, just a small budget hotel in the city. It was not located downtown, but on a road some distance from the airport, with few surrounding buildings.

A round little helmeted head poked up out of the grass, only to be pressed back down by a hand.

“Guanguan, stay low,” Wei Cheng said after lowering his night-vision goggles. In a low voice, he continued, “There are three sedans and two trucks at the entrance. The hotel has three floors. There are twenty windows with curtains drawn, mostly concentrated on the second floor and above. Estimated headcount is between twenty and twenty-five.”

“The enemy outnumbers us badly,” Yi Qi sighed.

Wei Cheng’s gaze swept over the area and finally settled on the shabby building across from the hotel.

It was a four-story auto repair and maintenance building. On the wall hung an eye-catching white sign with red letters: INN ON THE FOURTH FLOOR.

Wei Cheng had already formed a plan. He distributed the walkie-talkies, which he had bought long ago and were finally getting used.

He said quickly, “Guanguan and I will go to the top floor of the repair building and set up the sniper rifle. Uncle Shen and Uncle Yi, you two have two jobs…”

Neither of them objected. At the moment, this was the best way to break the deadlock.

Wei Cheng took Guanguan by the hand and moved toward the side of the repair building along the outer perimeter. “Baby, are you scared?”

Guanguan lifted his little face, his big eyes shining. “Not scared! Guanguan is as brave as big brother and the uncles!”

“Good. We’re about to see Mingming and Xiaotiao.”

There were no zombies around. The people from Watcher Community had probably cleared the area out. After all, people like them would never allow threats near their doorstep.

At the back of the repair building was a green steel-mesh fence.

Wei Cheng took out a pair of bolt cutters from his backpack and used some force to cut an opening large enough for two children to pass through.

Guanguan was the first to duck down and scurry inside, placing his little hand above his eyes and peering around like a real scout. Then he raised his little water gun and declared, “Safe!”

Wei Cheng smiled while putting away the tools. “What a tiny little scout Guanguan.”

By now the sky had turned faintly blue. Dawn was close.

He stepped inside behind Guanguan and took out a child carrier. “Come on. Big brother will carry you.”

Guanguan obediently climbed into the carrier, then asked, “Big brother, is the water gun heavy?”

Wei Cheng had grown taller and put on a little weight lately. Carrying Guanguan this time was not as hard as before.

He patted the little head against his chest while fastening the straps and smiled. “The water gun’s not heavy. Guanguan isn’t heavy either.”

That made Guanguan a little happy. His feet swung lightly. “Hehe, big brother, Guanguan turned into your backpack!”

“Mm. A big backpack.”

Wei Cheng carried Guanguan and quickly examined the old, rundown building.

There were a few cars on the ground floor, but they were all old models from decades ago, coated in a thick layer of dust.

He pressed himself against the wall and carefully moved toward the glass door, only to quickly sidestep and hide after seeing something.

There were several zombies inside wearing work uniforms.

This building was very close to the hotel across the street. They could not afford to make any noise, or the two uncles would be in danger.

“Big brother, there’s a ladder over there.”

Following the direction Guanguan pointed, Wei Cheng saw a vertical safety-cage ladder attached to the opposite wall that led straight to the rooftop.

To avoid disturbing the zombies inside, Wei Cheng took Guanguan around the back of the building before approaching the ladder.

The ladder was not locked.

Wei Cheng did not dare waste time. He lightly gathered Guanguan’s legs in his hands. “If Guanguan is scared of heights, close your eyes.”

Guanguan clenched his little boxing gloves and bared his teeth. “Big brother, your baby isn’t scared of heights! Height is just a tiny little thing!”

Wei Cheng knew this was no time to laugh. “Alright then. But if you feel uncomfortable, just close your eyes.”

Most children were afraid of heights and got dizzy.

But as the ground got farther and farther away, Guanguan felt as if stars had started spinning in his eyes.

He got woozy.

When he looked up, all he could see was his brother’s chin.

Remembering what his brother had said, he slapped both little fists over his eyes and muttered quietly, “Height is such a bad thing. It made Guanguan’s head all dizzy!”

Hearing the child grumble to himself, Wei Cheng climbed faster toward the rooftop.

When he finally stepped onto the roof, he saw a sight that made his scalp prickle.

On the ground lay five skeletonized bodies, some large, some small.

Wei Cheng immediately thought of the unlocked ladder.

He guessed these people had climbed up here to escape the zombies, but the horde had surrounded the building for too long. Trapped on the rooftop, they had eventually starved and frozen to death in despair.

He set Guanguan down and quickly surveyed the rooftop.

“Guanguan, keep your helmet on and stay behind the water tank.”

“Okay!” Guanguan lifted his chubby little face. “Big brother, can Guanguan go into the safe house and prepare gifts for Mingming and Xiaotiao?”

Wei Cheng could not have wished for anything better. If Guanguan was willing to go into the safe house, that was perfect. He smiled. “Yes. And unless big brother tells you to come out, you stay inside!”

Guanguan cheered and vanished into the safe house with a swish.

Time was tight. Wei Cheng dropped a sandbag beside him and quickly chose the sniper position. In the end, he braced the sniper rifle between two large silver water tanks, using a protruding iron frame on the ground to stabilize the stand. He adjusted the scope, confirmed the target, loaded the bolt, and prepared everything in one smooth, precise sequence—because every bit of preparation mattered if he wanted to maximize the rifle’s power.

Wei Cheng quietly turned on the walkie-talkie and coughed once.

Three seconds later, two of the sedans in front of the hotel burst into flames.

Then the hotel’s front door flew open, and four hunters in thin clothing came rushing out.

They had clearly just climbed out of bed. Their hair was a mess, their faces greasy, and their mouths moved nonstop—they were probably cursing.

Soon six more hunters came running out.

That was enough.

Wei Cheng pressed the sandbag under himself, laid his cheek against the stock, held his breath, took aim, and pulled the trigger.

The first four hunters dropped immediately. The others tried to run, but no one could outrun a bullet.

Wei Cheng and the two men hidden below fired together. Not one of the six escaped.

Then another car exploded, and the hotel windows shattered from the blast.

The chaos inside grew worse and worse.

Wei Cheng kept his expression cold, took aim, and dropped them one by one.

By their estimate, there should still be seven to nine people left in the hotel.

At the same time, he saw Shen Zheng and Yi Qi moving toward the hotel’s main entrance.

Wei Cheng spoke into the walkie-talkie: “Two on the fourth floor heading down. They’re armed. High chance they come out from the left staircase.”

Shen Zheng and Yi Qi coordinated perfectly, quickly taking cover beneath the hotel’s front desk. Sure enough, the two men came down from the left stairwell toward the front desk.

The two uncles opened fire at once, and the hunters died instantly.

That left about five to seven people.

The entire hotel suddenly went quiet.

Wei Cheng lifted his binoculars and swept them across the low floors, where the glass had all been shattered.

Then he spotted several figures hurrying somewhere while carrying tables for cover. The people from Watcher Community clearly knew there was a sniper and were trying to use the tables as shields.

Wood was no match for bullets.

Wei Cheng fired coldly. Three people were hit and dropped in succession.

Then he froze for a fraction of a second.

He recognized someone.

He hesitated no longer and fired at the red-haired man. But at that very moment, the red-haired man yanked one of his underlings in front of him, and the bullet hit the subordinate in the shoulder instead.

Taking advantage of that, the red-haired man led two others hurriedly downstairs.

Then they disappeared from sight.

Wei Cheng thought of something and immediately said, “The survivors are in the basement. They’re probably trying to use them as hostages to get downstairs.”

At that moment, a group of zombies drawn by the commotion appeared at both ends of the street.

There were not many, but for two men they were still troublesome enough.

“About twenty zombies coming in too.”

Wei Cheng said, “That red-haired guy is hard to kill. Be careful. There are three of them, and three of us. Our odds are good. Try not to let the survivors get hurt.”

Hearing that, both Shen Zheng and Yi Qi grew tense.

They did not trust their own aim enough.

The weight of someone else’s life in your hands was not an easy thing.

Before long, three bedraggled hunters emerged from the stairwell, holding at gunpoint two battered adults and one filthy little child.

Wei Cheng did not recognize the adults.

But the child—

It was Wang Xiaotiao, thin as a little kitten.

The child must have been frightened stupid. His already not-very-bright gaze looked even more blank.

Wei Cheng’s fist tightened.

He aimed at the red-haired man’s head and could make out his lip movements clearly.

“You came to save people, didn’t you? Kill me and I kill them! Nobody lives! Damn it! Who the hell are you? Do you know who I am? My dad is the boss of Watcher Community! If you dare kill me today, my dad will flatten this whole place tomorrow!”

Cold sweat beaded on Wei Cheng’s forehead. He could not bear to imagine how heartbroken Guanguan would be if Wang Xiaotiao died.

Right now, Guanguan was still in the safe house picking out gifts for the two children.

Holding his breath for a long moment, Wei Cheng said one single icy word into the walkie-talkie:

“Kill.”

In that instant, the bullet seemed almost to gain physical form, cutting through the morning mist and the shattered hotel lobby glass.

The red-haired man’s head burst open like a smashed melon, blood splashing across the face of the child nearest him.

The other two hunters had just raised their guns when their wrists were shot through. Yi Qi moved instantly and finished them off.

He looked at Shen Zheng. “Damn, you’re amazing!”

Shen Zheng smiled faintly. “You’re pretty amazing too.”

The other two survivors collapsed, clutching their heads and wailing in terror. They were nowhere near as calm as Wang Xiaotiao.

Shen Zheng slung Wang Xiaotiao over one shoulder and grabbed one of the adults by the arm. “Where’s the basement?”

The adult shook violently, clutching his head and sobbing. “I don’t know, I don’t know, don’t touch me, please don’t touch me!”

“Don’t cry, don’t cry, we’re not bad people!”

At that moment, Shen Zheng felt a tug on his sleeve. The upside-down little boy, tears streaming down his face, stammered, “I… I know where Mingming and Grandpa are!”

Zombies poured in.

Yi Qi opened fire and said, “You go find them. Chengcheng and I can handle this.”

On the rooftop, Wei Cheng was firing at zombies too.

When he saw the street had finally cleared, he quickly pulled back the sniper rifle and called out, “Guanguan, come out! We’re going to see Xiaotiao and Mingming!”

In the next second, the child in the little helmet appeared, wobbling slightly as he emerged.

Wei Cheng lifted him onto his back and smiled. “Did you put on perfume?”

Guanguan covered his little mouth and giggled. “Baby didn’t bathe yesterday! Grandpa Director doesn’t like stinky kids!”

Wei Cheng carried Guanguan away from the auto repair building.

At the entrance lay two cars burned down to empty shells, two intact trucks, and corpses of zombies all over the ground.

Before they even reached the hotel, they heard the sound of footsteps.

In the jumble of moving figures, Guanguan finally saw the people he had not seen in a very, very long time.

The child slipped down from his brother’s back and stumbled toward his two little friends.

“Mingming! Xiaotiao!”

For a moment, the two thin, frail children did not seem to react. But once they realized it was really Guanguan hugging them, they opened their mouths and burst into loud, messy sobs.

The three children cried while turning in circles, clinging to one another.

“Guanguan! Guanguan is still alive!”

Some survivors still did not dare come out. Others, leaning on one another, staggered toward the exit.

But now that they had killed every one of the Watcher Community hunters, the rest was no longer their concern.

Shen Zheng somehow found the keys to one of the big trucks and started it successfully, shouting excitedly, “Get in, quick!”

The truck had six seats.

Yi Qi scooped up the three children and threw them inside, then looked at Wei Cheng. “There’s still an old man.”

Wei Cheng could barely recognize the old man as Director Wang anymore.

The spirited old man from before the apocalypse was now little more than skin and bones, his face withered, his eyes wet, looking as if he had only one breath left in him.

Where was Teacher Xiaomei?

Wei Cheng fell silent, then said, “We’ll squeeze in. Get in.”

The truck crushed over zombie limbs and sped away from the hotel.

The sky was fully bright now.

—

The survivors in the underground passage gathered quickly. They had spent the whole night planning how to fight, and in the end had decided to smash head-on into the Watcher Community bastards.

But when they reached Joy Villas Hotel, this was what they saw:

Cars burned down to their frames, the ground covered with corpses—zombies and dead Watcher Community hunters alike.

The group braced themselves and moved farther in, only to run face-to-face with survivors coming up from the basement.

“Uncle Zhong, Sister Xiaomeng is here!”

“Third Uncle, all those bad guys’ stuff is down here, and so are our supplies. Nobody took anything!”

Uncle Zhong said nothing.

He turned to the survivors and asked, “Who saved you?”

One of the survivors, weak and drained, replied, “It was a young man. He… he seemed to be looking for people. He only took away the two orphans and the old man that you had once saved, Uncle Zhong…”

Author’s Note:
Shen Zheng really does know how to score a vehicle—he found a huge truck packed to the brim and brought the babies and his brothers home with it! [laughing wildly]

Click here to download the full novel (PDF & EPUB)